When accessing information through a computer application, users may like to have quick access to as much information as possible from various data sources. These data sources may be located on a local computing device where the application is executing or the data sources may be located on a computing device that is accessible through a computer network.
In the area of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), when users have access to information from multiple data sources in an application, the users may want to switch back and forth between the information being displayed from multiple data sources. In order to quickly access or switch between the viewing of information from multiple data sources, multiple document interfaces (MDIs) have been developed that provide fast access to information from the multiple data sources. One type of multiple document interface is a tabbed interface in which each document, sheet, database, spreadsheet, page or data source has at least one corresponding interface tab and possibly child windows that may be accessed by the user. An interface tab may be selected by the user to view the page content associated with the interface tab while child windows for the other interface tabs may remain hidden until those interface tabs are later selected.
An example of a tabbed interface may be a browser that may be used to view documents accessed from the Internet, a wide area network, a local network or a local device. Many browsers allow users to access multiple data sources at a time. These data sources may be displayed in a separate interface tab and the user may select the interface tab in order to view the interface tab. Each interface tab opened by a multiple document interface application (e.g., web browser) consumes memory and processing resources on the computing device being used. In addition, when the page content associated with the interface tab begins to load, network bandwidth may also be consumed.